AD&D Session 3: The Order of the Perfect Circle

In the last session, the party continued their delve in Stonehell, explored more of the first level and ventured briefly to the second, accidentally started a cult, and recovered great treasure. Will their luck continue? What more awaits beneath the earth? Join them in this week's journey to find out...

The Party

Sonari, elf mage/thief with a wimple, played by Jada

Norbeth Yelfiel, elf mage/thief with a periwinkle wide-brimmed floppy hat, played by Finn

Akiva ben Moshe, beetlefolk fighter with a short ponytail, played by Ali

Occam, goblin fighter with a greathelm, played by Anne

Innus Entus, goblin cleric/fighter with a bishop's mitre, played by Cao Linh

Ingvar Duram, human cleric with an extravagant tricorn hat, played by Jackson

Eileen Longtail, human soldier

Tork Longtail, ratling scoundrel

Precious, domesticated rat

Casualties

Tork (left for home)

Loot

12000cp

6000sp

50gp amethyst

1100gp jeweled circlet

3000+gp assorted jewelry

Kobold fan club

Appreciation of President Sniv

A name

Enmity of Salomon of the Ultraviolet Flame

Enmity of Slep, kobold guard captain

Lachesis' iron ring

The Game

24 Plantings 1113

• When last we left off, the party had returned to Stonehell, explored the natural caverns west of the entrance, and looted a mausoleum complex, which rewarded them with a great haul. As they were identifying the items within the room of the skull altar, another group of explorers came upon the long-shut mausoleum door, now hanging ajar...
• Luckily for the party, this group was the beetlefolk explorers they had met previously. Even better, their compatriot Ingvar Duram was still with them, hale and healthy, and rejoined the group. They had quite a lot to tell him about since they parted ways.

Party: There will probably be a schism in the Acolytes of the Perfect Circle when they realize the sun isn't perfectly round. 

Ingvar: The what

• After Norbeth positively identified the bag of holding, the party discovered that it was not empty, but contained a treasure map. The sketched map clearly showed the region of the kingdom some distance to the east of Stonehell, but the text on the opposite side was a mystery. Luckily for the party, Ingvar was well educated and knew both Khaldean, the language of poetry and sophistication, as well as High Cascabel, the archaic language of the old nobility. The message was written in Khaldean script but using the High Cascabel language. 
• It was a letter, written by the last heir of the Clifton family as he lay dying in Stonehell, addressed to two people named Jacinth and Simar. It urged them to escape Cascabel, retrieve a key secreted away with a selkie clan to the east, and recover the treasure he had hidden from the Potentate. 
• The party decided to check it out after they were done with the current delve. In their continued explorations, they fled poison smoke that billowed from an ancient fountain, gambled on their lives with an esoteric stone wheel (Sonari got a permanent +1 to dexterity, Akiva was cursed for a day), Sonari and Innus Entus were both struck with the poison of a giant centipede, the party narrowly avoided a swarm of glowing-red fire beetles, and they established friendly contact with the kobolds of Stonehell (Ingvar's talent for languages came in handy yet again!). 

(Noting the kobolds' rickety ladders and equipment as they repaired traps)

Party: What's going on here? Where is KOSHA in all this?

• While Sonari decided to head back to the surface to seek treatment for the poison in town, the rest elected to remain underground. But past the stairway chamber, they encountered yet another patrol of Festering Wound goblins! 
• Unlike the ones they met in the past, these were on alert. One outpost and another patrol had been destroyed without warning in the north quadrant, where their enemies, the Wolf Gang, were not active. The goblin in front revealed the black, rotting wound on her ear, and demanded to see the same on the party's goblinoids to prove their identities. 

Occam: Mine's in an... unmentionable place.

• The party braced for combat... until Innus Entus took off his shirt and showed them the untreated centipede bite on his shoulder.

• The goblins were convinced, and informed the 'reinforcements' that in light of their missing patrols and the kobolds' continued support of the Wolf Gang, the Festering Wound was badly in need of funds to turn the tide. In their desperation, they had plucked up the courage to seek out 'Da Dragon' of which the kobolds were so terrified, and take its hoard. 
• The party had passed through the caverns in which 'Da Dragon' was supposed to lair, and did not encounter it, though their contact with the kobolds, who were periodically assaulted by it, convinced them it did exist. They concluded that the Festering Wound were fools, but decided to take advantage of that foolishness. 
• The two groups joined together, the non-goblin characters once again passing themselves off as war-slaves, and marched to the cave where 'Da Dragon' dwelt. The party convinced the goblins that since two of their war slaves, Ingvar and Norbeth, spoke the dragon language, they should go in first to declare the Festering Wound supremacy and act as meat shields. Of course, these two actually planned to ask leniency of the dragon and promise to aid it in killing the goblins. 
• However, as the huge, reptilian figure dragged itself out of the pool at the far end of its cave, they found that 'Da Dragon'... was in fact a colossal, overgrown gecko. Which immediately charged forward. 
• A great melee began, with Festering Wound goblins and 'war slaves' crossing blades with the lizard's talons as arrows and javelins flew from behind. Innus Entus covertly commanded some goblins to charge forward and enter melee, improving the odds for the PCs in close quarters. Ironically, the most serious blow dealt during the fight was Norbeth's stray arrow hitting Akiva for max damage (though only half his health, that guy is extremely tough), and the party had much better success than the goblins did in piercing the gecko's scales. 
• The fight concluded with Akiva chopping off 'Da Dragon's head with a great overhead slash of his greatsword (the variant weapon damage against large creatures coming into play!). Against numerous and organized opponents, the lizard had dealt no casualties. 
• As the goblins celebrated, Akiva retreated to Innus Entus and received the cleric's healing power. That was when one of the goblins nearby realized they had been had.

'Surface-worlders! Deceivers!'

• The fight was joined anew, but most of the goblins were spread out, and those in the back of the tunnel were surrounded and quickly dispatched by the party. One was struck with Innus Entus' fear-inducing slap, and fled into the depths of the cave. Occam chased down and slew this one, and the rest were summarily slaughtered with arrow fire.
•  In the quiet of the cave, the party discovered that the false dragon did in fact have a hoard. Though large in quantity, most was not especially valuable, but a valuable jeweled circlet more than justified the expedition.
• They took Da Dragon's hoard and head, and returned with both to the nearby kobolds. They were overjoyed that this monster, that had eaten so many of their brethren, was finally defeated. They kobolds led the party straightaway to their home in the dungeon, too quickly for the party to make accurate maps, leading them without incident through the Festering Wound's territory to the south, past a set of barred passageways, and into kobold territory.
• Along the way, Eileen alone heard an alluring call in the darkness, to which the kobolds responded by covering her eyes and ears and double-timing it in the other direction.
• As they passed the guard post and traps, they attracted a snowballing crowd of kobold who all wanted to see the decapitated head and meet kobolds' benefactors. They were conducted swiftly into the kobold market, where the party resupplied and relaxed, and saw that it other visitors, goblins of both the Wolf Gang, Festering Wound, and a yet-unfamiliar group called the Obsidian Legion, surface humans, hyena-men, violet-robed cultists and more were present here in a tense peace. 
• In response to questions about the dungeon, the party was conveyed to the 'tavern' where a woman covered in a black veil, Lachesis, flanked by huge humanoids an a robed man, brokered a negotiation between the Festering Wound, Obsidian Legion, and surface bandits. When their turn came, the party got various questions about the dungeon answered, including learning more about the history of the dungeon and the fate of the vizier, who did not die during the revolution but fled to the City of Vultures. They also learned the story of a far off land, the Isle of Flowers and received an iron ring with her name on the outside of the band, a sort of calling card. They also noticed a number of snakes periodically poking out of her veil, to which she fed small rats. 

Innus Entus: Maybe she's just snakes in a trench coat?

• Afterwards, the party met briefly with the kobold leader, President Sniv, who threw a feast in their honor and offered them privileged status within the kobold-controlled tunnels. During said feast, however, Akiva offended Slep, the kobold captain of the guard, who was humiliated by the ability of outsiders to destroy this longstanding threat to the kobold. At the same time, Innus Entus got into an argument and nearly a fight with a violet-cloaked human, later identified as a member of the Cult of the Ultraviolet Flame, the priesthood of the faraway Undying Witch King. And to top it off, Occam got into a disagreement with Tork, which caused the ratling to leave the party's service and return to the surface, escorted by a pair of kobold. Eileen stayed with the party, but said she would return to see Tork once they finished this expedition. 
• In the course of the night, the party settled on an official name for themselves. No longer were they the Architecture Enthusiasts, but the...

Order of the Perfect Circle!

25 Plantings 1113

• They stayed the night in the dungeon without ill effects, and the next morning they asked President Sniv to open the danse macabre door (the kobold having their own in their territory). The kobolds already perform that duty for the Cult of the Ultraviolet Flame, and agreed. The Order was escorted there by Captain Slep, and noted the great effort the kobolds went to keep the door shut. 
• But after they passed through, the way closed behind them, and Captain Slep did not respond to banging on the door. The Order was stuck, and had to find another way out. 
• They explored the halls beyond, which they had already gathered was a tomb complex built early on in Stonehell's existence. But as they dodged swooping bat-things and cautiously made their way over crumbling bridges, they were ambushed. 
• Just as they came upon a door, it swung open and a mace whizzed past Akiva's head. It was Salomon, the Ultraviolet Flame cultist that Innus Entus had nearly fought the night before. 
• Though the surprise attack failed, there were over a half dozen violet-robed cultists beyond. As both groups prepared for battle, a mellifluous voice came from beyond the door. The leader of the cultists, his face hidden in shadow and holding a great staff with the head of a serpent, urged the Order to forgive Salomon, and to depart this region of Stonehell for the next two weeks, in order that the business of the two groups not coincide. Intimidated, the Order agreed and retreated, now looking for a way out.

The symbol of the Cult of the Ultraviolet Flame: 
a broken circle and flame on a purple field
The Ultraviolet Flame and the Perfect Circle are natural enemies!

• That didn't mean they weren't still looking for loot. When they located a mausoleum complex, they set about looting it systematically.  That system was rudely interrupted by the appearance of a sentient mound of bone fragments that burst from its tomb to assault the party with ferocious speed!
• Nevertheless, the party took the monster down, and from its lair recovered an impressive array of jewelry and coinage, only somewhat covered in bonemeal. 
• With that victory and some more good loot, the session ended in high spirits. Will the party be able to escape the quiet halls of Stonehell? Will they exact their revenge upon Salomon and Captain Slep? What will happen to Tork? Join us for next week's session of Cascabel!

Takeaways

This is the first time a session went for the desired four hours. The first session was spent half in character creation, and another hour was spent in the second session getting Sonari made. I still felt like we got a lot done in those, and even more got done in this one! 

The feast in the kobold territory was the party's first carousing opportunity. Normally carousing takes a week, but I decided that this time they could do it in a single night thanks to the kobolds throwing them a party. As a result, the party is now 600gp poorer, (that's a month of living expenses between them!) and have 600xp in a communal pot for future characters. They're doing carousing xp collectively, since Norbeth's player has been keeping track of finances thus far. I include my carousing rules below. 

I need to keep better track of xp gain during the session. It's no more difficult than in Castle Xyntillan, but that was an online game and I was accustomed to tallying up the xp between sessions, while here I try to do so at the end of sessions. Tallying up xp for custom monsters takes a little while. 

The players have gotten quite attached to Eileen and Tork. This is not unexpected; I know this group and calculated those two to play on their heartstrings. Still, some players want the henchmen to have more presence in the session. Right now, they largely only show up during combat, and otherwise fade into the background. Maybe it's time to create a fashionable little construct: call it the NPC Clock or something. Or maybe I'll just add 'an NPC in the party says/does something' to the encounter roll: 1 in 6 encounter, 1 in 6 NPC activates. I think I'll test it out this coming session. 

In between the last session and the time of writing, I picked up Anthony Huso's Castle of the Silver Prince. Expect a preliminary review soon. I'm already integrating it into my campaign, and starting this coming session will make Wicke Descendants a character option. Anne has already made one, and rolled up a paladin with obscenely high strength. I look forward to seeing that play out.

Carousing

When in a civilized area, the characters may spend a week of downtime to Carouse. They roll 1d6 (explodes with no limit), and multiply by their level and location modifier. That much gp is spent from the character's inventory with no benefit to the character. The same amount of xp is now available in a pot which the player may use when creating a new character in the future. 

Alternate rule: carousing spending and the xp pot may be shared collectively. 

Location modifier

100: large city

50: notable town

25: small settlement

Each player then has a 50% chance to roll of the following table. The roll of 1d20 is modified by the character's reaction adjustment (5% = 1 point)

Carousing Table

Roll	Result
-4	Driven out of town, gain no xp
-3	As 15, but the person is secretly a powerful evil creature getting into your good graces to make your life terrible
-2	Gain the enmity of a local authority figure, who will try to make things worse for you
-1	Gain a bad reputation in this area
0	Lose mount or other valuable thing to thievery
1	Spend time as a prisoner of the local authorities/a crime kingpin/a sorcerer, for 1d6 weeks unless a bribe of 200*level gp is paid. Maybe
2	Roll on the disease table
3	Gain the enmity of someone, roll for influence, no class levels, relationship determined by DM
4	The Dreadful Hours: Experience ennui, wind up listening to the discourse of some old farts. Maybe get an adventure hook
5	Sudden loss of 1d6*level*100gp exploding
6	Got into a brawl, roll a save vs death or start next session with a black eye and -1d4hp. Gain 1d6*100*level xp either way
7	Disagreement with a henchman/hireling, they leave your service for 1d6 weeks, may reconcile afterwards
8	Doppelganger: Someone matching your description nearly exactly except for some notable feature has been acting up, doing odd, criminal, or notable stuff
9	Accused of a crime, may or may not be guilty
10	Unusual gift! d6: 1 baby, 2 taxidermied pegasus, 3 slave, 4 pet cat, 5 obviously cursed item, 6 tavern
11	Involved in a duel with a haughty arisocrat/daring warrior/misguided innocent
12	Someone tasked you with guarding the contents of a package, and not to look inside. 4:6 they actually come back in 1d6 (exploding) weeks, 3:6 someone else comes looking in that time
13	Invited to join a secret society? 1d6 for influence, 1d6 for harmlessness
14	Gain the services of a 1st level henchman of random class that shares your alignment
15	Gain a beneficial relationship with someone, the sort of relationship is up to the player, the person is up to the DM. Roll 1d6 for overall influence, no class levels
16	You have a vision of a saint/angel/etc, and are now geased to go on a pilgrimage/perform some holy act. A great reward awaits should you succeed
17	Sudden gain of 1d6 (exploding) *100*level gp
18	Gain an exotic mount, such as a riding lizard or axebeak
19	Gain a good reputation in this area
20	Gain a favor from a local authority figure
21	Gifted a wagon of valuable merchandise and/or an animal companion of unusual intelligence
22	As 15, but the person is actually powerful, good magic creature
23	Gain a really exotic mount (like a pegasus or nightmare) or a cool magic item
24	A famous and powerful worthy approaches you with a task: succeed, and you will gain great reward
25	Offer of the cushiest marriage/job/retirement you can think of. If you accept, the this PC leaves play, but all current xp can be transferred to replacement character. Even if you turn it down, the offer remains open
26	A miraculous opportunity falls into your lap. A major clue or aid to the current adventure, a potent magic item, or perhaps a powerful elixir which can resolve a character's ill state, is yours with no strings attached
27	???
20/20	Wake with a splitting headache. Touching your forehead you discover a new, invisible third eye. Reroll psionics with a 20% bonus (even if you did not originally qualify)

AD&D Session 2: The Paleo-Platonists

In the last session, the party gathered together for the first time and delved into the dark tunnels of Stonehell, gaining little in the way of treasure but cutting their teeth on the dungeon. What will they find as they press their luck beneath the earth? Join them in this week's journey to find out...

The Party

Sonari, elf mage/thief with a wimple, played by Jada

Norbeth Yelfiel, elf mage/thief with a periwinkle wide-brimmed floppy hat, played by Finn

Akiva ben Moshe, beetlefolk fighter with a short ponytail, played by Ali

Occam, goblin fighter with a greathelm, played by Anne

Innus Entus, goblin cleric/fighter with a bishop's mitre, played by Cao Linh

Ingvar Duram, human cleric with an extravagant tricorn hat, played by Jackson

Eileen Longtail, human soldier

Tork Longtail, ratling scoundrel

Precious, domesticated rat

Casualties

Sonari (mortally injured by zombie, healed and recovered)

Loot

9500sp

30gp

Broad-headed key

Worked ivory necklace (600gp)

Jeweled bracelet (300gp)

2x potions of healing

Bag of holding

Treasure map (undeciphered)

The Game

22 Plantings 1113

• When last we left off, the party had united with a band of beetlefolk delvers to decimate a guardpost of Festering Wound goblins on the first level of Stonehell. After confirming the other goblins nearby were not alerted by the scuffle, looting the bodies, and executing their captive, the two groups went in separate directions. One of the party's clerics, Ingvar Duram, elected to stay behind with the beetlefolk and give them some aid, and was exchanged for an elf named Sonari. They also recovered Precious, a docile giant rat whom they knew was being ransomed back to the wererats on a lower level, in the hopes of getting that reward themselves. 
• The party combined their map of the level with that obtained from the beetlefolk, and wound up exploring further to the south. In one chamber filled with broken statuary, Occam's innate goblinish sense for hidden mechanisms and secret things located a sack of coin and a strange broad-headed key. Nearby was a glyph which Sonari determined was a glyph of teleportation, and a stairway down to the second level...
• Descending down to the second level, the party comes across the sound of low muttering and a crackling fire beyond a closed door. They elect to knock, and are received cautiously by the people within. The party identifies themselves as 'the architecture enthusiasts' their go-to party name now, and the inhabitants of the room, ragged and wild-eyed humans, demand to know their relationship to 'the architects.'
• The humans conclude that the party are philosophers, and invite them in to indulge in their feast of roast snake, which the party politely declines. Seeing that the humans are fond of carving strange, abstract shapes on the walls, Akiva spins them a tale of the Perfect Circle and an accompanying philosophical doctrine. They turn out quite receptive to these ideas, and the party eventually convinces them to journey to the surface in search of the Perfect Circle. 

Akiva: Now, you can't look at it directly or it will hurt your eyes because it's too perfect, but we just like to bask in it.

• On the surface, the party allows the humans to acclimate to the sunlight (realizing that these people have been below ground since they were born). Akiva's brother Eliezer arrives conveniently on the scene and escorts the former inmates to the village of Beegrove, and thence to the larger town of Bowerness, where they can hopefully receive the succor of the church and integrate into surface society. 
• Returning to the first level, the party continues to fill out their map, and eventually comes to a dead end with a great oaken door. Beyond is almost no sound, except for the occasional shuffling of something trying to make no sound. Once again, they decide to knock, with Sonari taking the lead. This time it turned out much less well for them. 
• A rotting fist punches through the door and rends through Sonari, immediately dealing her a mortal wound. Even as the party reaches her and helps her recover, a group of shuffling zombies rip the door apart with their bare hands and shuffle towards the party. 
• Though they suffer some less serious injuries, the party is eventually victorious. They find nothing in the room beyond, and conclude that someone left the zombies here on purpose...
• They still want to push their luck, and decide to return to the now-vacant room occupied by the inmates in order to rest in the dungeon. However, once back on the second floor, they discover a hunting party of lizard-men outside that very door, looking for prey. Only by sheer luck does the party manage to remain undetected by this superior foe, and skulks back to the surface. On the way out, they encounter a patrol of Festering Wound goblins, who have discovered the destruction of the alarm outpost but make the same mistake the others did, and the party coordinates with the neabry beetlefolk to pincer them and destroy the patrol. They return safely to Beegrove with something to show for their endeavors, and partake of the feast of St. Quiscal. 

24 Plantings 1113

• After some recovery time and Innus Entus' generous healing ability, the party returns again to Stonehell. This time, they follow the kobold signs toward 'Da Dragons Den' and discover a strange series of natural caverns amid the worked stone. Though they spy upon a group of kobold harvesting bat guano from the caverns, they encounter no dragon. But they do find a pair of sturdy, locked metal double doors, which the key so fortuitously found in the last expedition opens. 
• Within are a series of tombs which the party searches methodically. Though some skeletons within animate with baleful blue fires in their empty eyes, they do not attack unless the party steps over the threshold. In one, they find a group of small skeletons on separate biers, and Innus Entus' turning allows the party to extort one skeleton out of a jeweled bracelet. In another, the party is very nearly surprised by a ghoul, whom Akiva cuts down before its poison jaws can harm anyone, and they recover a valuable necklace of worked ivory from its ritual vestments. Finally, in a room with two zombies resting upon a single bier, which are swiftly dispatched, the party finds a brightly-colored satchel worked with masterful patterns: a bag of holding. 

They spent a while nerding out over this thing

• Beyond these tombs remains a single door, and therein lies a chamber engulfed in a wicked power, with an altar against the far wall made of skulls and bones. The party determines that this place has not been in use for quite some time, and a thorough search of the room uncovers a secret door. Beyond is a hidden cache of ritual vestments and an unlocked chest. Innus Entus steps forward to open it, and only good reflexes save him from taking a poisoned needle through the hand. Within the chest they locate silver coins, brass rings, and a pair of weird stoppered vials with a murky mixture within. 
• The party takes a break in that chamber, and Norbeth swallows his much-prized live goldfish; he positively identifies the bag of holding, and discovers the vials are in fact potions of healing. Most interesting of all, there is one item still within the bag... a treasure map. 
• With a solid take and no (permanent) casualties, the party celebrates... but who knows what shall come of next session? Join us for next week's session of Cascabel!

Takeaways

The contents of the tombs were generated randomly; one entry calls for a 'minor magic item', which I interpreted as a 'miscellaneous magic item'. Maybe that means something specific in Labyrinth Lord, but by the time I rolled out the result and discovered a bag of holding (definitely not a minor item!) I had committed to the throw of the dice. 

Where last session was positively impecunious, there was plenty of treasure to be found this time around. Some of the PCs are not far from leveling up! The first session only went for two hours due to character creation for the first two, and we spent the first hour of this session with Sonari's player making her PC, but went for three this time. Even so, we got plenty done, and they go by fast. 

I got some feedback on the combat: it felt quite unadorned, with lots of attacking and not much else. I'll try to challenge the players a bit more by making enemies move and act in unexpected ways, but I'm not changing too much based on this. After all, most of the combats thus far have been against outnumbered foes, often caught by surprise, and end quickly. They're still in Stonehell's tutorial area, and I expect combat will get a lot more interesting once they start dealing with foes they can't overpower or easily outmaneuver without thinking tactically. 

I've spent some time since the session working on handouts, including in-universe dungeon maps that show where other characters have been and what they are doing, but also the treasure map, spellbooks, etc. 

They never did touch that teleportation glyph. I wonder what lies beyond it...

AD&D Session 1: Violence Breeds Violence

At long last, after years of preparation, I have finally begun my AD&D campaign in earnest. Though there were several failed launches in the past, I have now gathered a group of great players, and look forward to gaming with them for a long while to come!

Rejected titles: We're Architecture Tourists, Come in Peace, Leave in Pieces

The Party

Norbeth Yelfiel, elf mage/thief with a periwinkle wide-brimmed floppy hat, played by Finn

Akiva ben Moshe, beetlefolk fighter with a short ponytail, played by Ali

Occam, goblin fighter with a greathelm, played by Anne

Innus Entus, goblin cleric/fighter with a bishop's mitre, played by Cao Linh

Ingvar Duram, human cleric with an extravagant tricorn hat, played by Jackson

Eileen Longtail, human soldier

Tork Longtail, ratling scoundrel

Casualties

None

Loot

Auspicious roast turkey

Assorted goblin equipment

Bottle of fine beetlefolk blood-brandy, 25gp

The Game

• We set our scene in Beegrove, population 80, a benighted town two days off the king's road, where the Scarlet Candle inn and tavern does brisk business for one reason alone: it is within walking distance of Stonehell. A pit of iniquity, built decades ago by a tyrant to imprison dissidents and conduct horrifying experiments upon them. Though the tyrant has long since been overthrown, the liberation of the prison was incomplete: too many prisoners dug too deep, and many refused to return to the surface. 
• Now Stonehell is a magnet for bandits, goblins, and all sorts of other monsters, whether as a hideout, hunting reserve, or a staging ground for attacks upon nearby human settlements. And there are no shortage of brave souls willing to enter in order to quell the evil within, and to take treasure from its depths. 

21 Plantings 1113

• So this yet-unnamed group has gathered within the Scarlet Candle inn and tavern to make a toast. Innus Entus makes a toast to survival, while Akiva toasts to 'cash money.'
• Akiva is joined in his toast by a young woman with a crooked nose, Eileen Longtail, a warrior who wants to join the party in their journey. Norbeth is alarmed that someone was aware of their secret plan... which was a secret to nobody in town whatsoever. 
• Seeing her enthusiasm, the party was more than happy to let her join. At that moment, a ratling, Tork Longtail, stomps in and begins arguing with Eileen. The innkeeper fills in the party that this is her adoptive brother; she was abandoned in the hills as a child, and was found and raised by a ratling family until she was too old to fit in their burrow. They're rather protective of her, and disapprove of her adventurous ambitions. 

Party: "We have met the main character and must protect her with our lives."

• The party is steadfast, and Tork announces that he too will join the expedition; he is, after all, the only person in their number that has actually traveled to Stonehell, albeit as a porter and never actually entering the dungeon. 

22 Plantings 1113

• The party leaves the hamlet early the next morning, just as the townsfolk are preparing for the feast of St. Quiscal the Decapitated, a joyous late spring affair whose festivities, for reasons lost to time, involve draping a large wicker donkey with flowers and vines and marching it into the town square to be immolated. The villagers send the party off with a roast turkey in honor of their auspicious day of departure. 
• Though there was a heavy rainstorm two days past, the day is brisk, breezy, clear and sunny. They are accompanied partway along the road to Stonehell by Ser Olmar, the young lord of Beegrove, off to try his hand competing at the qualifying tourney a couple days north in Bowerness. 
• A long dirt road snakes through the hills and past a dank marsh toward mountains of red stone, and finally leads into a narrow box canyon blocked off by a forbidding curtain wall; this wall and gatehouse, however, has long since been sieged and abandoned, and the party has no difficulty moving through. 
• Thick mist blows from further down the canyon, and though the party sees various odd structures, they do not stop to examine them. They make a beeline for the entrance to Stonehell proper, a great stone archway carved with ominous verses leading to a spiral staircase that descends out of sight. The chamber is marred by a great deal of graffiti, much of it written using the common script but in the language of dragons. Ingvar, something of a polyglot, translates one piece as 'clean up trash, dumb humans' and the party wonders for a while at the ambiguity therein. 

Ali: In five sessions we're going to get blindsided and the DM is going to say 'aha, that graffiti was written at dragon height!'

• The party descends, and in response to a variety of possible exits in the first room, commit themselves to a pattern of exploration: north first. This plan is immediately challenged by the discovery of a draconic-language sign reading 'Da Dragon's Den' pointing west, but they persevere. 
• They discover the work of previous expeditions, are watched from the darkness by the glowing red eyes of what they gather are kobold work crews, and discover a strange altar before a colossal stone head with crystal eyes and mist emanating from its maw. Their curiosity is drawn by a draft of cold air, which leads to a chamber filled with the dusty remains of bones and rusted armor and weapons, beyond which is a locked stone door marked carved with the iconography of the danse macabre. They prove unable to open it quietly, and neglect to spend quality time with a crowbar and possibly alert everything on the other side. 
• As they turn away from the door, they realize that the cold, stale air is once again coming from behind them. As best they can discern, it originates from a spot near the center of the room. Occam decides to pry up a flagstone and as he does so, feels a cold hand upon his shoulder. 
• The rest of the party sees a ghostly figure manifest behind the fighter. All but the two clerics flee in terror: Occam west towards the locked door, the rest of the party to the south and west. Innus and Ingvar hold fast, and seeing that it is not hostile, attempt to commune with the specter. It wheezes out 'I remember' and 'Look for the vizier' before it disappears. 
• Once the bulk of the party recovers from their fright, they find themselves in an unexplored area... and spy torchlight coming around the corner. Akiva steps in front of the others, zweihander held out, but the alarm is unnecessary; they encounter another beetlefolk, Meryre, who is part of an expedition examining the unique architecture of Stonehell. They exchange information, and Meryre warns them that there is are numerous goblins to the south, warring among one another, the Festering Wound clan and the Wolf Gang. 

Source

• Shortly thereafter, the whole party is reunited and touches base: further poking the flagstones near the cold draft does not cause the ghost to return. 
• They venture south, and in their exploration encounter a group of humans... dirty, bedraggled humans with a wild light in their eyes, hunched over a choking fire roasting sad little pieces of meat. They spy the goblins in front of the marching order and go to their weapons. A sign of peace on the part of Akiva stays them from immediate hostilities, but they still demand food. The goblins took Kolbar, and they will have recompense. The party realizes these mad humans have mistaken the party for the Festering Wound goblins to the south. After some deliberation, they offer a day's rations and book it out, unwilling to get into a fight with no promise of reward, even with a slight advantage in numbers. 
• Further south, the party is surprised by the Festering Wound goblins... but in a stroke of luck, with goblins leading the party in front they are fooled into thinking the party are reinforcements from elsewhere in the dungeon, accompanied by well-beaten slaves. The goblins, each of whom has a distinctive, never-healing wound on their body, inform the party that there's a crew of beetlefolk nearby, and encourage them to go kill and enslave them as well. 

Party: Are we sure we want to do that? After all, violence breeds violence.

Goblins: VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE!

Party: Stop, that's not a good thing!

• Occam and Innus agree, and the party sets off to meet the beetlefolk, whom Akiva is able to convince that the party means no harm. They find that the beetlefolk have stationed themselves in a chamber with fascinating architecture, not least a secret door through which they have been spying on the goblin outpost the party just passed through. The two groups scheme together, and come up with a plan.
• The party returns to the outpost, beyond which they know are more goblins who may be alerted by an alarm. So they position themselves near the alarm gong, and are ready when the beetlefolk launch their attack. 
• Norbeth tears the gong from its post and cushions it to prevent it from sounding while the remaining party and the beetlefolk surround the goblins. In a stroke of luck, the goblins are surprised for two segments, and are quickly cut down. Innus and Norbeth take one captive with a command spell and Tork slays the last with a well-aimed sling bullet to the forehead. 
• Now, as the party takes a prisoner and loots the bodies, with the goblin allies unaware of anything wrong, they stop to consider: what are the next steps? What will they do with their prisoner? And how much further into the dungeon are they willing to go? We shall soon see, in next week's session of Cascabel!

Takeaways

After anticipating the start of this campaign for so long, actually playing it almost comes as a relief. Though I knew these players well and had confidence in my system knowledge, I was still beset with doubts. What if the jump from L5R/5e to AD&D wasn't to their liking? What if I couldn't run it effectively at the table? What if I had lost my touch?

I'm pleased to say it all went well despite those doubts. Character creation was done with within a couple hours, and largely went smoothly, except for the realization that certain crucial pieces of data were missing from my homemade PHB (namely some equipment weights and prices, and the ranges/lengths of weapons). The spread of ability scores was wider than I had expected: one 18 and one 19 (!), as well as a 4. The players rolled with it admirably. One noted that it was fun rolling ability scores in order, and wound up playing a fighter, not their usual cup of tea. We also got good use out of JB's old Random Headgear tables, just like in Castle Xyntillan. 

The group got into their characters pretty quick, took well to Eileen and Tork (after a couple campaigns with this lot, I think I know what kinds of NPCs they end up liking), and were enthusiastic about getting into the dungeon. It was a little wobbly at first, but after some adjustment they got into the groove of things. Though we only had one short combat at the end of the session, it good good responses, especially the speed. AD&D combat rounds take 1 minute in-game, and their resolution out of game isn't much longer! Stumpian 1d6 initiative also worked out without much need for explanation at the table. 

In terms of tone, this session was generally on the lighthearted side: my sessions have always been at least a little tongue in cheek, and since one of my favorite things at the table is fun NPC interaction, I tend to lean into some of the more ... absurd elements? Not sure if that's the right way to put it. Time spent in play was short, around two hours, but I do feel like plenty got done in that time. 

This is my second time running a megadungeon, and unlike Castle Xyntillan, this one actually does have factions! The party has only scratched the first level, yet they've already encountered two, heard of a third, and had intimations of a fourth. The appearance of Meryre the beetlefolk was a random encounter, but by serendipity it happened in just the right place. The fun of running megadungeons is all coming back!

I feel that the surface region around Stonehell may have overwhelmed the party... or rather, I overwhelmed the party by listing so many save entrances and features all in one go, such that they decided to ignore all that and head directly for the dungeon proper. Or maybe they really did just want to get underground ASAP. I guess I'll figure it out.